Can't give deadline for finishing CWG works: Sheila Dikshit

The Delhi government today appeared to blame the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for the mess surrounding the Commonwealth Games Village and the capital's developer also came under scathing attack at a meeting convened by the Cabinet Secretary last night.

"We inherited it (the Village) in a very difficult situation. It is improving by almost the hour. We are workingvery hard (to make things right)," Dikshit who has been personally monitoring the 'clean up operation' at the Villagesaid.

"I do hope that at the end of it everything will be alright....of course there are some seepages which the builderand the DDA should have looked at earlier," Dikshit said.

Asked whether the entire complex will be ready by the Wednesday deadline set by her on Sunday, Dikshit refused totalk about the timeline and said some buildings are still wet and authorities are finding it difficult to drain out thestagnant water from the basements.

"I won't give you a timeline.... It depends on how dry the buildings become. How quickly the water is removed fromthe basements and how quickly the lifts are working," she said.

The DDA, which functions under Union Urban Development Ministry, was also criticised by Cabinet Secretary K MChandrasekhar and several top officials of the Organising Committee and Delhi Government at the meeting last night, topsources said.

Amid strong criticism by international delegates who dubbed the Village as "filthy and uninhabitable", the PMO lastweek had directed Delhi Government to take control of the complex from Delhi Development Authority and clear the mess.

The city government, since taking control of cleaning, house-keeping and overall maintenance of the complex on lastWednesday, had deployed a workforce of 1,500 people including professionals from five-star hotels.

Officials said the developer of the complex Emmar-MGF has extended little cooperation to the authoritiesin improving condition at the Village.